My issue started when I couldn't get any wireless because the kernel was not compiled with my wireless card enabled. This led me to try anything and everything to make it work. Of course I was digging myself deeper and deeper into a hole...

I have wpa_supplicant installed. I have networkmanager installed and working. Thats the one I want to keep working. The error messages on the splash mention the eth0 connection (wired) and something about the wireless module not being found.

I have an ath9k driver.

I'm not sure how to post the boot splash messages. But I'll start with what I know:

type dmesg in a console and it'll list everything the kernel did during the last boot up till the current time. including loading any modules. something like "dmesg | grep ath9k" if nothing shows then you know it didnt get loaded. If you compiled it as a module then you may need to add the module name to "nano /etc/conf.d/modules" then reboot.

I just tried emerging and installing wicd as per these instructions http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Wicd with no success. I could not to use it in KDE and the boot splash still spits out the same errors. i was able to dhcpcd eth0 into a wired connection...

I've since unmerged wicd and remerged networkmanager and kde-misc/networkmanagement as at least I'll have an icon and GUI settings panel.

Right now kde is saying I have insufficient privledges to do anything that requires an administrator. If I could get past this I could get the net back.

I've tried deleting the .kde4 directory and still no permissions for administrative rights.

in the olden days, adding your user to the 'plugdev' group would get you what you needed

Code:

gpasswd -a <youruser> plugdev

logout required before this takes effect.

For KDE, you should have "kdesu" installed (is it still called 'kdesu' ?)
So if you did need to run something as root while booted into KDE, you could hit ALT+F2 to bring up the command line menu, and key in e.g. kdesu systemsettings - this would ask for your root pass, then launch systemsettings. Just an example.

Your user should also be a member of the 'video' group to enable hardware accel (at least, this used to be true?).

Reinstalling does not fix issues in Gentoo. It only offers you an opportunity to not make the same mistake again.
You also learn very little from reinstalling, well, you may get to the point where you don't need the handbook any more :)_________________Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

Reinstalling does not fix issues in Gentoo. It only offers you an opportunity to not make the same mistake again.
You also learn very little from reinstalling, well, you may get to the point where you don't need the handbook any more

That made me laugh. I too got to that point recently... I re-installed 3 times and the problem turned out to be that I was missing a needed option in the kernel configuration. It was Neddy who helped me figure that out. Man I tell you, you go above and beyond the call of duty man._________________MB: Biostar TForce 6100 AM2 @ 250x10
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3800+ X2 @ 2500mhz
MEM: G. Skill DDR2-800 2GB @ DDR2-1000
GPU: nVidia GeForce 7600 GT
OS: Gentoo Linux 2006.1

That made me laugh. I too got to that point recently... I re-installed 3 times and the problem turned out to be that I was missing a needed option in the kernel configuration. It was Neddy who helped me figure that out. Man I tell you, you go above and beyond the call of duty man.

I've reinstalled and all is working fine. Not once did I encounter a failed compile. I think a big part of my troubles aside from bad flags was I would often Ctrl-C in the middle of a compile. This time I just let it keep going and it took over 2 days of solid compiling to download everything.

So now the net is working, sound is working (had issues with KDE not finding the proper sound driver and reverting), permissions in KDE are working. Even the extra video effects are working more smoothly.

I do still have the errors on bootsplash. At least for now I have a functional system. I'll figure this out.

BUT, if I do end up reinstalling again, lets just keep this hush hush from Needy.

* EDIT - Progress *

I was able to stop net.eth0 and now I don't have to wait for eth0 to try to get a wired connection at bootup:

this one is normal and to be expected.
unless, of course, you want to wait on your wireless card to associate, authenticate, and finish dhcp, before you are allowed to do anything else

is the same deal on mine, since i just use a net.wlan0 init script for my wireless.
it starts, "but is inactive" since it's doing all of its "getting connected" magic. By the timed I've logged into fluxbox, it's finished all that, and I have network connectivity._________________Lost configuring your system?
dump lspci -n here | see Pappy's guide | Link Stash

this one is normal and to be expected.
unless, of course, you want to wait on your wireless card to associate, authenticate, and finish dhcp, before you are allowed to do anything else

is the same deal on mine, since i just use a net.wlan0 init script for my wireless.
it starts, "but is inactive" since it's doing all of its "getting connected" magic. By the timed I've logged into fluxbox, it's finished all that, and I have network connectivity.